Lift Each Other Up
by Amilyn
Summary: The mission went well. Then they tried to leave and everything went wrong. Hera and Kanan, injured, end up running for their lives in unfamiliar, hostile territory, chased by slavers, and having to hide in a cave, waiting for rescue that might never come. Written in 2018 JediFest AlienApril for gondalsqueen. Warnings: minor sexual assault, mention sexual slavery, near drowning.
1. Chapter 1

Lift Each Other Up

by Amy L. Hull

~o~

Written for gondalsqueen in the JediFest AlienApril 2018

Many thanks to for beta-reading and cheerleading to oldtoadwoman, kianraidelcam, LaJulie, and Alphie.

~o~

1.

Hera draped an arm over the back of the barstool and tossed one lek back.

The turn let her glance at Kanan through the dim light of the tavern. He slouched in a chair near the fireplace, his ragged and grungy clothes obscuring his physique, hood shrouding his face.

Near him a raucous group of Imperial contractors shouted for another round of drinks, complaining about their schedules, their workers, their bosses, the Empire's expectations, and any number of things.

Kanan tapped steadily against the cup he held.

Sabine's voice was clear through Hera's headphones. "The micro-comm in Kanan's cup is still picking up information clearly."

Hera nodded thanks for the glass on a folded napkin in front of her. The barkeep nodded back, face unchanging.

"Hera, there's no sign of anyone taking notice, is there?" Zeb asked.

Hera sipped her hubba juice, saying, "Hmm-mmm" into the glass.

"So everything's all right still?" Sabine pressed.

She hummed "Mmm-hmm" then swirled her juice. Picking up the napkin, she patted the corner of her mouth. Juice moistened the napkin and she pinched the damp corner as she set it down.

She rolled her head, stretching her neck and scratching her shoulder, letting her index finger slip beneath the square collar of the local-style fitted blouse she wore. She slid the data chit into her basics and against her breast.

She sighed, yawning audibly, and risked another glance at Kanan. He rocked his head and shoulders side to side.

They had developed that signal together...Hera remembered it from children on Ryloth who grew up blind after bombings or chemical exposure. After a moment of dizziness, he had said it was surprisingly helpful at triangulating sound and space.

It enhanced his disguise and persona...and telegraphed, _"No. Not yet."_

Hera coughed. _"Message received."_

She forced a relaxed posture, hoping it wasn't visible that she was coiled for action under the facade. The haze from the smoke helped disguise her actions, but she couldn't wait to shower when they got back. Everything here stank. She sipped her drink, monitoring the room.

The Empire wanted them all and had upped their bounties again recently. This might be an under-resourced inner rim moon, but someone could still recognize them. That meant surveillance...without looking like she was doing surveillance.

Just a random Twi'lek woman, relaxing in a tavern, not wanted for sedition, not smuggling, not selling her body. Happened all the time. Nothing to see here.

She drained her glass and held it up, catching the barkeep's eye. _Another,_ her raised eyebrows signaled, and the woman sighed. She flicked her eyes toward Kanan, who was still swaying and tapping his cup.

If she kept a log-she wasn't that foolish, but if she was-she'd have to call this the Non-Verbal Mission.

Sabine continued her commentary, "Kanan's getting good information on the materials factory. If these guys worked directly for the Imperial Navy, they'd already have been court-martialed."

"Hmm."

"These factories produce key products. You should have let me send explosives," Sabine groused.

Hera sipped her next hubba juice. They did serve a good drink here, and even without alcohol, the tart-sweet liquid was a nice change from reprocessed rations.

Patrons entered more rapidly than earlier. They needed to go. She sipped and glanced at Kanan. He sat straight now, hands on knees. His meditation stance.

Just as Hera drained her juice Sabine's voice, tinny through the comm, continued, "Kanan just signaled he's got all we need. Be _careful_."

"Thanks," Hera said, raising a hand to the barkeep, whose dour expression twitched only slightly.

Kanan walked toward the door, one hand extended before him holding a cane she knew he wasn't using for anything but a prop. She'd suspected since Malachor that things would be easier if he would use such a device as assistance. Even these months later, when he wasn't fighting, he still moved more slowly, more cautiously. He slept more than he had...before. Just using the Force had to be utterly exhausting.

A couple of steps outside the door, an arm around her neck interrupted her train of thought.

She let out a tiny yelp before her air supply was cut off. She tucked her chin, and grabbed the inside of his elbow with both hands.

His other arm pressed against the back of Hera's neck as he dragged her backwards.

Her head was pinned. Her attacker's grip squeezed her lekku more painfully every second. His stench-body odor and alcohol-surrounded her, but she couldn't tell if her eyes were watering from the pressure on her throat or the odor.

She scrambled to get her feet back under her, boots slipping on the mud as she pulled down on his arm and bent forward as hard as she could.

Vision starting to dim, she kicked backward. She hooked her foot behind his leg and pulled her elbows and knees together, bending at the waist.

That threw his balance, and they went down together. He flailed out to catch himself, letting go. Hera rolled with the momentum and came up on the balls of her feet, fists raised and ready.

"Hey!"

She didn't turn to Kanan's voice or his footsteps. The man swung at her and she blocked him. Arms went around her, pinning her upper arms against her, her back against another huge man.

"Watch out!" she shouted to Kanan as the first man turned.

Kanan dodged the man's punch, but a third man kicked him in the back, knocking him into the mud.

The man behind Hera ground his pelvis into her ass and licked her lek with a revolting, stomach-turning groan of pleasure.

She stomped on his instep, grabbing his arms and leaning forward to throw him. He jerked her back so her feet dangled. Force, he was densely built. She kicked and twisted.

He bit her lek, and she grunted, startled.

"Stop!" The thickly accented voice demanded attention.

She stilled instantly. Sabine shouted in her ear, demanding their status. Hera focused all her attention on Kanan.

The first man had his boot on Kanan's neck, a blaster against his temple.

Kanan's right hand straightened.

"No! Not here!" Hera called. They had agreed that being seen using the Force here made the danger of recognition too great. They would wait. She forced herself to droop, feigning submission. "Don't hurt him."

The man shoved her to her knees, scoffing. "Beggar might be useful in keeping her controlled. Maybe we won't just kill him."

One yanked back Kanan's hood. "He's _blind!_ " one chortled.

"What a waste. A Twi'lekki woman-on her knees even-and he can't see her?"

Hera felt more than heard the growl deep in her chest. Sabine sounded slightly shrill, perilously close to panic as she barked orders at Zeb and Chopper, interspersing them with reassurances that the _Ghost_ was going to be there for them.

The man yanked off her headphones, dropped them, and stomped them into fragments. He shoved Hera face-down onto the ground. Her head hit Kanan's, and a boot pressed into her back.

"Wait for it, love," she breathed. Somehow she could just hear Sabine's voice, and she saw Kanan's ear-comm on the ground. She lifted her chin, got her tongue on it, and tucked the comm into her cheek. Stars, but mud and human ear excretions tasted awful. She thought she heard a tiny sound of "coming for you" from inside her mouth.

A loud crack shook the air and huge raindrops splashed against Hera's cheek. It had rained off and on since they landed.

One of the men stepped on her forearm and fixed a wide, metal cuff around her wrist then yanked on her arm. From his growl, she knew they were doing the same to Kanan. Her hand brushed his as the cuffs joined them.

A crackle sounded, Kanan yelped, and a charge ran through Hera.

"See, either of you give us any trouble, we shock the other," the accented man gloated. He stepped on Hera's free arm. "If we need to, we'll kill him. You won't get anywhere attached to a corpse."

"Still waiting," Kanan murmured.

Hera squeezed his fingers.

One of them poked her lek. It stung. "Hey, you damaged the merchandise!"

The other scoffed. "It'll take us a couple of weeks to deliver. It'll heal."

The accented man chuckled, "They'll fix her up. That's why part of our contract includes sampling the goods."

Kanan's grip tightened and Hera squeezed back. He was quivering with rage. They would get out of this, but he needed to keep control.

One man grabbed the neck of Kanan's shirt and his arm. Another grabbed Hera's arm and bitten lek. They hauled them to their feet.

It was time.

Kanan and Hera spun in unison, bracing back to back and kicking the slavers away from them. Kanan added a Force-push, sending them farther than the kicks alone would have done, but avoided attracting undue attention.

Hera peered through the increasing downpour while taking down the men.

She pulled Kanan's hand, "This way!"

The rainfall grew louder, pounding on the ground, the roofs nearby, pinging off her cap. Their feet slapped against the expanding puddles.

"The way ahead is clear," she shouted over the storm. Their hands were intertwined, their running synchronized.

Blaster bolts sizzled past, turning raindrops to steam. Hera twisted her hand as a guide for when to dodge, and they zig-zagged in a practiced pattern. If they hadn't done this a dozen times before, it would never have worked.

"Oh, no!"

"Wanna share?"

"We're running out of ground!" She had no idea what was past the line she could just glimpse through the deluge, but it wasn't land.

"We'll jump!" Kanan shouted. "On your count!"

She tightened her grip on his hand. "Three! Two! One! Go!"

The moment they cleared the edge she felt suspended in the air, then she fell, and Kanan fell with her.

She caught a glimpse of a frothy river below, trees and debris teeming through its raging movement. A split second before the water, she felt their descent slow. They cut through the surface like they'd stepped off the river's edge rather than cliff fifteen meters above.

They sped immediately back up as the river yanked them along. The cuff cut into her wrist as she lost hold of Kanan's hand.

A log spun past and she jerked away. She tried kicking and stroking like her father had taught her in pools deep in the tunnels of Ryloth, but reaching with her right arm pulled Kanan's with her, and she went under.

He was working at cross purposes, stroking against her as they struggled to keep their heads above water. The fast-moving current kept sweeping them under.

She swallowed a mouthful of water and came up gasping. Barely catching a breath, she saw Kanan's mouth move, but the rushing water was too loud for her to hear him.

He pointed and yanked at her cuffed hand, but she didn't duck deeply enough. She glimpsed a log in her peripheral vision an instant before it hit the side of her head.

Her last thought around the exploding pain was that he'd better not drown with her.

ooo


	2. Chapter 2

2.

Hera was freezing. The cold pinched and squeezed at her lekku, her nose, her forehead.

Life support must be down on the _Ghost_.

She wasn't sure why she wasn't already working on it. Had she been asleep when the enviro controls broke?

She had to get enviro back up or the others would die. They might be unconscious already.

Had she been unconscious? She wasn't sure how long enviro had been down...or how it got that way.

"Kanan!" she called. "Chop! I could use some help here!"

She tried to yank open a frozen-shut panel. Her coordination shot from cold, she couldn't get her fingers around the catch.

"Kanan? Where are you?"

"Hera."

She sighed. He was somewhere near. "I'm here. I could use some help. Kanan?"

"Hera, I'm here."

There was a hand on her face.

Wait...it was dark. No...dim.

"Kanan."

"I'm right here." His thumb stroked her cheek.

"Cold."

"Yeah. Me too."

"Help-"

Her right hand was pulled. His fingers were laced between hers. She was so confused. He pressed her fingers to his cheek, prickly and damp where his beard was. "What do you need?" He kissed her fingers.

"Gotta get atmo back-"

"I'm more worried about getting you moving."

Moving. She could move. Hera shifted. A piercing pain shot through her head, and the ground under her squelched. Kanan's hand shifted to behind her neck, and she realized her head was in his lap.

They weren't on the _Ghost_.

"Where are we?"

"We're downriver from that dive and the slavers."

She felt that man's arm against her throat, the other one rubbing against her, heard the threats to Kanan, and reality clicked back into place.

A different chill shuddered down her, the cold that she felt every time she faced men like that, the fear and preparation for...she shuddered.

She rolled to the side, telling her skull it could have a turn later. As she pulled her knees up, her stomach roiled once, twice, and all the hubba juice poured from her throat and onto the mud. "Help me up."

Kanan knelt in front of her, one hand next to hers, the other keeping her lekku back.

His touch was light, but they hurt. Her sides hurt. Her throat and neck and hands and head… Sith, everything hurt. The river roared dangerously behind her.

"Kanan, how did you get us out of the river?"

His grin was crooked. "Luck. Stubbornness. The Force. I wasn't going to let you drown."

She picked up her hand to wipe her mouth. His hand came with it. The cuffs.

"You…" She closed her eyes. "Kanan, you could have drowned. Why did you leave these on?l"

"I told you. I wasn't going to let _you_ drown. This way I knew we wouldn't get separated. Anyway, I was distracted with other concerns."

 _Stubborn man_ , she thought. "Take them off."

He touched the cuff, closed his eyes, released a breath, and the cuffs clicked open. He tucked the cuffs into his belt. "Don't want to leave a trail. Hera, can you stand? We need to get moving."

A thunderclap echoed, and rain pattered against the leaves overhead.

She crawled forward through the vomit, higher up the river bank. With one hand on a tree trunk and Kanan's hand under her elbow, she stood.

The world spun a bit, and she leaned her forehead against the tree, panting as her stomach twisted. A few deep, slow breaths later, she stood straight.

"You're right. We've got to get moving. At least the rain will obscure our path. Oh!" She suddenly remembered, reaching inside her jumpsuit. Soaked through, it had little give and stuck to her. Under it, pressed into her skin, was the tiny square. "I've still got the data chit. Whether it survived the soaking remained to be seen."

"Heh. Trust you to put the mission first."

"Well, they've already got the intel you collected. This is just bonus." She took another few steps so they were sheltered by a tree. Probably not a great idea with the thunder. Now that her eyes had adjusted, Hera saw light behind the low clouds, but there was no telling how long that would last. "You're right that we need to find shelter while we wait-from the weather and-"

Kanan had stiffened, his breath grown shallower.

She scanned around them. "What's wrong, love?"

His head and shoulders hung. "Hera, I can't see the terrain." Kanan's voice was small.

She cupped his cheek. "We've got this. Together." She scanned the area. "It looks like there are caves above the flooding level, probably only a mile away. Let's find one and see if we can find a way to call for backup."

He nodded. "Lead the way, Captain."

She laced their fingers together, tucked her elbow into the crook of his, and pulled his arm against her side. He almost never let her do that, but he seemed to relax this time.

The ground was saturated, even under the trees, and their boots squelched with each step.

The way was uncleared. It felt longer than the fifteen minutes the chrono said it had been when she barked her shins on yet another fallen branch. Setting Kanan's hand on it, she climbed over and he followed. He reached for her hand and they trudged along.

Every breeze brought a cascade of raindrops down out of the leaves, and the cold pinched Hera's lekku again.

Kanan leaned hard against her, and she stopped while he pulled his boot out of a mud hole.

"At this rate it'll take us a whole day."

"You have been hinting at us taking a getaway trip." Hera grinned up at him.

Kanan hummed. "This planet has plenty of water for swimming, dense areas of natural flora and fauna, unexpectedly exciting weather patterns."

Hera laughed, stepping over a root and lifting Kanan's hand so he would do the same. "I admit I was hoping for a more spa-like environment. Hot tub soaks instead of white water rafting-"

"Without the raft!"

"They left that out. We'll have to ask for a refund." She lifted a leafy frond out of her face, but it smacked her in the back of the head as she let it go. They both stepped in a puddle and it splattered. Hera spat filthy water. "And I expected the mud packs for my skin, not my clothes."

"That certainly sounds more appealing."

"I can finally see that we've made progress." Hera grunted as her toe hit a tree root.

Kanan gripped her arm tighter, steadied her.

She stood still for a moment, then pressed ahead.

"Hera, how's your head?"

"It's been better. My real concern is that we're losing light. How much do you think..." She trailed off, risking a glance at him.

"I don't know. This area is so filled with life, all the signals are scrambled. I can't tell if I'm feeling a tree or a rock or a night-hooter. To navigate a path through that with just the Force...I don't think it would work."

"I understand." Hera pulled him close to her side. "I can still hear the river, and we can't know how much water fell upstream. We can't stay in the floodplain either way."

Kanan nodded. "So it's either that cave or a tree branch."

"Yep. I do think we're about to enter a clearing. There might be a section that has less undergrowth before the cliff face."

"Let's hope so."

The clearing had widened into a type of heath with uneven, rocky ground under the thick grasses.

Every footstep beat in her head like a Kashyyk war drum. She wanted to use both hands to hold her skull together. Hera's eyes drifted closed and she leaned more heavily on Kanan. Her attention focused to the single point of the cave, the rushing water behind them chasing her. She couldn't feel her thighs or her lekku or her nose. Everything else hurt.

Kanan murmured, "We march asleep, mud-shod…"

"Huh?" Hera's head jerked up. "What was that?"

"I heard something like it once in the war."

The bluff loomed before them. "Kanan, we made it." Two more steps and she leaned against the craggy, moss-covered rock face. "We made it." Her arms were heavy as she reached for purchase. They were lucky the angle was not sheer. "It's about…" She blinked in the last glimmers of day. Blinked again as her vision swam. "It's about four meters up. Right above my head."

"Let me give you a boost." Kanan linked his hands and leaned down.

It took her two tries to get her foot into place, but muscle memory took over. The handholds might as well have been placed deliberately for as easy as they were. Kanan passed her about half way.

"Am I still on track, love?"

"Still on track," she repeated.

He disappeared over the ledge. She pushed one more time and his hand appeared in front of her. He pulled and she scrambled into the cave, toppling immediately.

He shifted so she landed on him.

"Teamwork," she mumbled, "Good teamwork."

His hand found her cheek and rested there. It felt blissfully cool.

"Hera, you're burning up." His voice was deep, rough, and he shifted her.

Her head came away from his chest and she moaned her disapproval, then she drifted out to the sound of his voice.

ooo


	3. Chapter 3

3.

Pain woke her.

She opened her eyes to only a dim glow, winced, and closed them again, groaning.

"Careful." Kanan's voice was soft, near.

Her chest and stomach buckled, and he turned her, got her head off to the side before she vomited. Her side stung, her stomach ached, and her throat burned. The lek that slaver had grabbed hurt even with Kanan's light touch. She spat twice and nodded, rolling back slightly.

His hands guided her and she began to take stock.

Her head throbbed. The eye where she'd been struck by the log was puffy, and an experimental twitch of her cheek sent pain lancing through her face. She swallowed down another bout of nausea.

An tentative flexing showed that the wrist that had been cuffed to Kanan was also sore. In fact, every joint ached-her neck, her hips, her knees, her back, one ankle she must have turned slightly coming up the cliff.

She was lying on something hard but...she shifted. Frowned. She wasn't cold.

Focusing on details made her head hurt worse. There was warmth in the air, warmth against her arm.

There was skin against her arm. She reached out, and the familiar feel of human all-body hair was under her fingertips.

Kanan covered her hand with his. "I've got you, love."

"Clothes?"

"They were all wet. The temperature dropped just before we got here-"

"Right as I passed out." Hera felt her lip curl in disdain.

His thumb stroked her arm, and his other hand squeezed hers. "You scared me half to death. You were only half over the ledge when you went limp. If I hadn't had my hands on you-"

Imagining the scenario reversed, she shuddered as she heard him swallow hard. "Kanan, I'm sorry."

"You should be. I mean, passing out just to get out of the hard work of setting up camp? Tsk, tsk."

She poked at him with an elbow. "It's...not cold," she whispered then swallowed, trying to wash down the acid that clung.

"Nothing to drink, unfortunately. There was plenty of rain, but nothing to collect it."

"Not your fault." She risked opening her eyes again...well, the one eye and the slit of her left one. The dim glow spun around her. She took shallow breaths, blinking slowly, fighting the urge to vomit again.

She lost.

Kanan helped her lean to the side again, held her shoulders and lek while she spat foam and her stomach cramped. Finally she nodded, leaning back again.

"Wanna sit this time, love."

"Just take it easy." Kanan's arm was warm on her back as he supported her. "You spiked a fever earlier, but it's better now that you're not freezing. But that concussion has me worried. If you hadn't woken up, I was going to try to wake you pretty soon."

She breathed shallowly while he talked. The nausea stayed managed this time, and she refrained from moving anything too quickly. "Not my first concussion." Even her voice hurt her head.

She squinted, but the room stayed blurry, almost doubled. There were… "Are those glowing rocks, Kanan?"

"Good thinking, wasn't it?"

"What was good thinking?"

"I super-heated a pile of rocks with my lightsaber." He sounded as proud as Ezra had after taking out his first Stormtrooper.

"Yes, you're very clever," she agreed. She hummed, fingering the silver emergency blanket. "Which of us had this? And where are our clothes?"

"The blanket was in a pack on your belt. Our clothes are drying," he gestured vaguely to the other side of the narrow cave. "Well, except my disguise cloak, which we're sitting on." He paused then added, "And the one sock I...might have caught on fire."

Hera started to chuckle, but stifled it when it began to hurt. "Where are _you_ hurt?"

"I'm fine."

She turned, carefully keeping her head level, and narrowed her eyes. "Fine-really-not-injured-in-the-flooded-river or fine-like-we-say-after-being-shot?"

"I'm hurt that you don't trust me."

"Give me your lightsaber."

"My what?"

"Your. Lightsaber." She held out a hand. "Now, Kanan Jarrus."

His sulk was like a child's, and she had to stifle a laugh again. She wrapped his hand around it, positioned it just above his head, and closed her eyes. "Now turn it on."

Even behind her eyelids the light was searing. She drew two slow breaths, then peered out, letting her eyes adjust as much as they would. Her head was splitting.

Tugging the blanket down, she checked his torso. "Just some superficial scratching and bruising here."

"See I told-"

She placed a finger on his lips. "Lean forward." She shifted carefully, swallowing the nausea. "Tilt your lightsaber back a bit. Okay. Same on your back."

"I tooold-"

"Uh-uh." His right arm had a large bruise on the bicep and a gash on the back of his hand, while his left wrist looked like her right wrist. "Couldn't have made those cuffs any tighter, could they?" she muttered, touching his with a single finger.

"I'm grateful."

"Wait, what?" His face swam for a moment; she'd turned too fast.

"I couldn't have got you out of that river without those cuffs on."

She shoved a finger at him. "I swear, Kanan Jarrus, if you _die_ trying to save me, I will never forgive you."

"And if you died when I could save you, I couldn't live with that." He cupped her hand unerringly, opened the fingers, and kissed her palm.

She stroked his cheek, then brushed her fingers through his hair, which hung loose from its tie. "Guess we'd better both be careful then, huh?"

"Very careful." That crooked grin made her heart flutter every time. "Maybe stick to jumping off of cliffs where we know what's at the bottom."

She kissed him lightly and leaned her forehead against his. "That should do it." A sudden coughing fit grabbed her, and a stitch caught her side. She rolled left onto her hands and knees and heard the lightsaber power down as she heaved again. "This can stop-" She spasmed with coughing and more dry heaves. "-any time." Saliva dripped from her lip, and Kanan's sure, warm hand stroked her back, the other still gently keeping her lekku from pitching forward.

"You're okay, Hera. You're gonna be okay."

She spat, coughed, spat, and panted. Her arms were shaking like saplings in a strong wind. He took more of her weight this time and leaned her against the cave wall. It was more a fissure in the rock wall than a proper cave, but at least the ground was mostly flat. The stone behind her back was damp and tickly with what she assumed was some kind of moss.

"Okay if I turn the saber on again?"

"Yeah," she managed between pants.

The lightsaber hissed on. "I know your face is swollen, and, from that fever, I'm assuming you have cuts from the river, but I need you to help me check you out."

Hera chuckled. "Thought you'd have wanted to do that yourself."

His face went serious. "Oh, I'd love to. And I will, once we're back on the _Ghost_ and I can wash my hands." He grinned. "I'll give you a full check-up then."

"Promises, promises," she murmured, eyes drifting.

"Hey, stay with me. But for now, I need you…" He swallowed. "I need you to be my eyes. We may not have bacta, but at least I can know what to keep an eye on...so to speak."

"My mini-kit might have stayed on my belt."

He frowned. "It did. Why?"

"It has two little packets of bacta. We can put some on your hand."

"We'll see. I'm checking you first." He held the saber like a lantern. "What've we got?"

Hera checked her arms. "Arms are about the same as yours...a few bruises and cuts, the wrist abrasions. Nothing much. My side has a huge scrape, but it's all superficial."

"Where?" She placed his fingertips near her armpit and guided them around the abrasion to her waist.

"Gods, Hera, I'm so sorry. I did that to you dragging you out of the river."

"Hey, you saved my life. It'll heal fine."

"You led me all that way with _that_."

She slipped her hand into his. "I'm okay, love."

He exhaled, face still etched with shame. "How does your back feel?"

"Fine. Stomach muscles and throat are sore from vomiting. And legs...you first."

He set the blanket aside.

She peered at him. "Okay...longer scrapes than on your arms, but only this one by your left knee looks angry." She touched near it and he hissed. "Sorry. Now turn."

He looked like he'd been pummeled, and the bruise on his left calf was oozing blood.

"Kanan! This is not minor! You have a puncture-" She pulled the saber lower for light. "I think there is a piece of wood still in the wound!"

"Leave-"

"Of course I'm going to leave it. But that's top priority for bacta." She scoffed. "Fine. You're 'fine.' Walking all the way here with a hole in your leg. Of _course_ you're 'fine'."

"It's not as bad as your concussion," he countered.

"I didn't deny I had a concussion!"

"Only because I already knew!"

"So," she said, "...my legs-"

"You're changing the subject!"

She continued, louder, "My _legs_ are not as bad as yours."

Kanan sighed. "Fine. Anything else?"

She hesitated. "My lek hurts." Her cheeks warmed. She hated that her voice came out small.

"Did it get hit with debris?"

She shook her head, swallowed. "One of the slavers bit it, then dragged me to my feet by it."

Kanan's grip on his lightsaber tightened and his breath shuddered. The saber hissed off and he knelt by her, hands coming to her face.

He never had to fumble for where she was.

He cupped her cheeks, extra gentle against the swollen one. He leaned his forehead against hers. "I'm so sorry," he whispered.

Hera swallowed hard, swallowed past the lump in her throat, swallowed the instinct to pull away from him. She slipped her hands up to his neck, laced her fingers in his hair, and let him hurt with her.

"We're okay," they whispered together.

Their voices in unison broke the spell and he stood. "I'm going to re-warm these rocks and get that pouch."

She watched, head resting against the moss, and wondered, as always, how the heat the saber generated didn't burn him in such proximity. She shrugged. The only answer was the same as always. It was a Force Thing.

Kanan ran his hands over the clothes he'd draped on a natural outcropping near one of the piles of warm rock and slid her mini-pouch off her belt. Handing it to her, he stood so she could doctor the puncture in his calf. She squeezed bacta into the wound as gently as she could, then spread it on the surrounding skin, which was already warm. She hoped it would help his body expel the foreign body. With the last bit, she smeared it across the gash on his knee.

He knelt again. She set the second foil packet into his hand. "The left one," she said, before he could ask, and guided his fingers to the jagged tear.

His movements were reverent as he spread the bacta, and Hera bit her lip to hold back tears.

"Let me get the rest of this onto your side."

As soon as he was done, he settled in next to her and pulled the blanket back up over them.

She hadn't realized she was shivering until their warmth built up again. His arm was solid around her shoulders and she leaned against him, brushing his chest with the tip of her uninjured lek.

"When the sun comes up, we'll figure out a plan."

"The kids must be worried sick." Sabine's panicked cries were the last thing she heard before they'd run. "If I hadn't lost the commlink, they'd be able to track us."

"I heard a few transports earlier. If it was the slavers looking for us, the kids might have had to wait to search for us."

Hera nodded. "Good point. For now we're warm and safe, though." Her head still hurt, but it wasn't as sharp as before, though she still ached all over. "I'm just going to nap for a bit, love. Wake me now and then?"

His arm tightened around her, and he eased them down onto the ground. "Will do."

"We make a good team," she whispered. "A good team."

ooo


	4. Chapter 4

4.

A bright light shocked Hera awake. Sitting up abruptly made her head throb, but she was on her feet and at their clothes without a thought.

Kanan was on his feet as well, lightsaber lit before he was fully up.

They had nowhere to run, but if her blaster worked, if they could take out the slavers, maybe they could grab their ship. Maybe-

"Stars! I did not need to see that!"

Hera turned.

Kanan relaxed his stance.

"Zeb?" they said in unison.

"Ugh! Cannot un-see!"

Unison again: "Ezra?"

The lightsaber hissed off.

Hera felt her cheeks heat, and she threw her blouse over her head, cringing as it caught on her lekku. At least she and Kanan were wearing their basics, which had dried faster than the thicker fabrics.

Chopper cackled and scolded from the top of the ramp.

"Okay, guys," came Sabine's voice from the comm, "I can only hover here so long without attracting attention.

Scooping up their belongings, Hera handed Kanan his disguise cloak. He tossed it around him.

"I've got everything," she murmured.

"Let's go, then," Kanan said.

Twining their fingers together, Hera tucked Kanan's arm under hers. "Sabine's piloting has gotten pretty good," she said. "There's only a half-meter gap between the cave's edge and the hold. Ready?"

"You know I am."

"Three, two, one, and jump."

They leapt together again, this time into the safety of home.

"I've got to go wash my eyes out with soap," Ezra complained.

"Goes double for me, kid," Zeb growled.

"Buh-buh-BUH-wup!" Chopper spun his head then wheeled away, chattering about human body coverings.

"Hold on, everyone," Sabine announced. "We're breaking atmo."

A moment later they were flying free, and Hera felt the engines shift.

"Med care first," she insisted, not letting go of Kanan.

"Maybe shower first? If I smell anything like you do…"

Hera sniffed then nodded. "You're right. Wound cleaning, then wound care." She shook a finger at him. "But if I don't see you in the common area in fifteen minutes, I'm coming to get you."

"Is that a promise?" Kanan's grin was rakish, still that same one she remembered from their first days. He leaned toward her, "You know, we could save resources and help each other out."

Hera chuckled. "I can't argue with that."

"Cannot un-hear!" Ezra wailed from down the hallway.

"Then stop eavesdropping!" Sabine said. A moment later, she flung her arms around Kanan and Hera.

"Group hug!" Ezra called, adding himself to the mix.

Zeb wrapped long arms around the four of them before grabbing Ezra's collar. "Now let them get cleaned up."

"Good plan." Ezra wrinkled his nose. "You two are...rank."

"Coulda told you that, kid," Kanan chuckled.

"Hera, you look awful," Sabine's voice was thick with worry, and she touched her fingertips to the temple by Hera's swollen eye.

"I'm all right. Really.

Sabine's eyes narrowed, but she let it go.

"How'd did you find us?" Kanan asked.

It was a good distraction.

"We followed the tracker. We had a solid fix, but had to wait for the planetary search to give up. The tracker did its job and led us straight to you."

"But...I lost the tracker in the river," Hera said, leaning more heavily on Kanan's arm. Her head was pounding.

Sabine reached for a hand-held scanner and flicked it on. It beeped, loud and fast, then louder and faster as Sabine pointed it at Hera's stomach. "Looks like you didn't lose the tracker, Hera. You swallowed it."

Hera blinked. "I can't believe… Actually, I can't believe I didn't throw it up!"

"I'm just glad we found you."

"Let's get cleaned up," Kanan said.

"Yeah, Ezra's right. You two are pretty ripe."

"You sure know how to make us feel welcome," Hera said. She put a hand on Sabine's shoulder. "You did good, kid."

Kanan nodded, and Sabine's chest swelled at the praise.

A tug on her hand later, Kanan was pulling her shirt off, ditching his own basics, and tossing everything in the auto-valet. Hera barely remembered the shower, the hypo for her concussion, or the reapplication of bacta.

Next she knew, she woke for a moment to find a warm, clean, human man next to her in her bunk, on her ship, her family safe around her in the freedom of open space. Kanan sighed, snuggled closer, and she drifted back to sleep.

~end~


End file.
